I am overdue for a new bike and the Multi is one of my top three picks.The reviews at this site are a big help. Your analysis is always a nice snapshot of what the bike does or doesn't offer without the tainted moto-journalist factory bias.Of course it could all be part of the Great M.O. illusion.Thanks for the effort.

Glad we could be some help! What are your other two possible bikes?

Speaking of great new bikes, we just put a VFR1200F in our garage. Aside from its controversial styling, it's really a nicely done machine.

Those of us who rode for many years before the onslaught of narrow focus bikes did all those things without batting an eye. When I see guys who think they have to have some bike that the manufacturer labeled a "sport tourer" or "adventure tourer" in order to do sport or adventure touring I just chuckle. One of my riding buddies does a lot of dirt road work on his BMW. Funny thing is he had an 1150 GS, decided the CofG was too high and sold it in favor of an R1100R that he modded a bit. He claims it's much better off pavement than the GS because of the much lower CofG. The GS's high ground clearance is moot because almost no one is going to be slanging one around like a 450MXer. I'm sure others can think of similar examples.

The question is whether supposed ADV riders actually take them off road. To be fair, I've ridden a GS in several places where a Harley and other streetbikes simply couldn't go.No, it's not a 450 MXer, but it is definitely capable of handling some gnarly terrain. I once rode from Calif state line to Vegas with Jimmy Lewis, all off-road, and there's no way an SV650 or whatever other pure streetbike (unmodified) you could name could've made the same loop.

Same for this MTS. A Harley or whatever could've been ridden down the same dirt roads we traveled on the MTS. But the Duc's long-travel suspension allowed it to go twice as fast.